Many people in the SME community feel that the various levels of government do not do enough to support small and medium-sized business. While I would not dispute this statement, it would also be fair to say that many SME’s do not take advantage of the support that is out there. I agree that it can be frustrating to wade through the reams of material available to try and find the one program that will fit your particular business. That being said, if your competitors are enrolling in these programs and you are not, you are going to be at a disadvantage.
There are those who would spend significant time and effort to try and make their business “fit the program” rather than the other way around. While there may be some benefit to this, the results are quite often not worth the efforts made trying to fit the program criteria. Sometimes however, a program comes along that is just tailor-made for your business. These are the programs that you can’t afford to miss.
The latest offering from the Ontario and Federal governments is the Canada-Ontario Job Grant. Although the inter-government agreement was signed with much fanfare last March, it has only just recently started accepting applications. To see if the glove fits your business, answer the following questions:
- Are you an Ontario based employer?
- Do your employees (new or existing) need training?
- Would (or could) this training be given by 3rd parties? (can be an accredited school or product vendor)
- Could you use $10,000 from the government to help pay for this training?
While as with all government programs there are other criteria and hoops to be jumped through, if you answered yes to the four questions above there is a good chance that this is a program that you should not miss. For more information on this program, go to: